Pan Am beer and wine sales on university agenda ... again

Liquor licenses have been topic of talk for years

LAS CRUCES >> Discussions may begin again this fall about whether New Mexico State University should apply for a license to sell beer and wine during sporting events in the Pan American Center.

NMSU officials have said they expect the issue will be up for discussion this year, after the school year begins.

They cite the currently untapped revenue and entertainment value the sales could bring.

The last time the discussion was on the table, in November 2011, now NMSU President Garrey Carruthers expressed his support for the move as co-chair of the Effectiveness and Efficiency committee. The committee advises the university on policy issues.

Carruthers said he still supports the move.

"It would be great to get off work and get a beer and hotdog and watch the game," he said.

The NMSU Gold Course and the restaurant in the Fulton Complex are the only two locations that currently sell alcohol.

Revenue maker

There is "real revenue" for the university to make in liquor sales, Carruthers said.

An outside local vendor currently sells beer and wine at select concert and events held at the Pan Am.

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"We are foregoing revenue because we don't have our own licenses," Carruthers said. "... If used in the right environment, when people aren't just hanging around and drinking, it seems not to have negative consequences."

The School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management would also seek a license, Carruthers said. The school has an educational license that lets students learn about the production of alcohol but not sell it.

A license for the school could be a revenue source if, for example, a company wanted to rent HRTM's venue and host a party with beer and wine, Carruthers said.

He opposes sales in Aggie Memorial Stadium because attendees often tailgate before the game and drink all day, and the university could be liable if those attendees buy one drink from NMSU, he said.

"We will probably never see the day in Aggie Stadium," he said.

What's ahead

The application process would likely look something like this:

-- The regents would address the possibility in a meeting, likely making use of the previous committee reports completed on the topic.

-- Doña Ana County would need to be involved in coordinating the licenses, as NMSU sits on county land.

-- The university would apply for a waiver of state law prohibiting liquor sales within 300 feet of a school or university and for an alcohol license from the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department's Alcohol and Gaming Division.

It would likely take about a year to obtain a license, NMSU officials have said.

UNM sells alcohol to top-ticketholders

Many universities do sell beer and wine at sporting events in some capacity.

The University of New Mexico applied for a liquor license in 2010 and received it in 2011, but only after the Albuquerque city council first vetoed its request for a waiver.

UNM appealed the decision and was granted a license to sell alcohol in suite and club-level seating in the Pit and University Stadium. About 10 percent of attendees have access to alcohol, the Albuquerque Journal reported in 2011.

"I think there's a precedent" for such sales, Carruthers said.

However, there will likely be opposition to the proposal, he said.

"We need to take into account the issues the university had in the past with drinking," he said. "We certainly don't want to exacerbate that."

To Braden Tidwell, alcohol isn't needed at Pan Am. There are plenty of establishments in the area that serve alcohol, and Pan Am should stay family-friendly, he said.

"This truly would be a money maker, but at what cost?" he wrote on the Sun-News Facebook page.

But Doña Ana Community College student Christina Melendrez Castillo sees the benefits.

"I don't drink but from a business standpoint, I think they should sell alcohol," she wrote. "It brings in more revenue."

Long time coming

Alcohol sales on university campuses have been in discussion for decades, since Carruthers sat in the governor's office.

As governor, he helped oversee the move to allow beer and wine sales at university golf courses.

Carruthers brought the proposal to a state senator who took it up. But when the approved legislation came to Carruthers' desk, it included cockfighting, Sunday liquor sales and more -- so Carruthers vetoed his own bill, he said.

The next year, the correct exemption was passed and signed, he said.

Immediately, the University of New Mexico and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology took advantage of the change, Carruthers said.

It took NMSU years to sell liquor at its golf course, he said.

In 2006, there was an attempt to investigate selling beer at NMSU sports games, but former Gov. Bill Richardson refused to approve license requests for universities during his administration. The discussion died.

When Gov. Susana Martinez took office, the "political atmosphere" seemed to exist, officials said, and NMSU formed an ad hoc committee to investigate the possibility. The Effectiveness and Efficiency committee, as well as Athletic Director McKinley Boston, both said they would support the sales.

The process was expected to take about a year, but during that time, then-President Barbara Couture left the university, taking all paperwork with her, Carruthers said.

"There's been a lot going on the last year and a half," Regent Chair Mike Cheney said.

Now that the university has a president and a provost, the alcohol sales discussion may return to the table, and ideally be resolved once and for all, he said.